FSUIPC 3.96 and Joystick Problem

[sfox72]

Today I have lost 2 hours to find out that I have no hardware problems, FSUIPC has turned off the stuff without any notificaion.

Whilst you were assigning? Or calibrating? The code does not operate in flight modes, as I say, only in the options.

I have upgraded FSUIPC and checked if there where any new settings to do. So I have opened any tab to check, but I have not changed or clicked any option. After closing FSUIPC I have done my IFR-Setup for a flight. After the the aircraft startup I have noticed that the complete axis for my joysticks are dead, so I was thinking that some hardware is broken. This happened twice plus searching for hardware problems makes two hours ;-) In my point of view there should be something that says that XYZ is disabled bacause of the timeout.

[Holclo]

Pete,

Joystick Timeout set at 30.

Further information. I completed a short flight PMDG737-800 and taxied to the gate. Set parking brakes and then decided to have a look at my Hat Switch settings in FSUIPC. And then I was seeing no response for my Logitec Extreme 3DPro joystick nor my Saitek Throttle Quadrant both of which had been operating normally during flight,landing,taxi and parking up to FSUIPC call up. Another observation I have made is a couple of times when going to FSUIPC via Menu and selecting buttons and switches I would get a flickering of the assignment i.e. when I press the button I had allocated to key press "S" I would see the "S" flickering and not stable in it's little box as would normally be the case. Other buttons would then act similarly. This doesn't always happen but has on several occasions. Now I am in a dilema is my problem FSUIPC, or Windows 7 or is it my new computer (where I do have some concerns - but uneducated ones at that i.e. I am not computer literate).I have not been able to get my CPFlightMCP recognised via the com port and am concerned that all my USB ports may have someting wrong with them - is that possible?

Thanks

Bill

[Pete Dowson]

40ms is definitely not working, so I have choosen 50ms.

Hmm. Very strange. So far everyone else seems to find 20 mSecs works fine. I changed the default to that in the updates.

Currently I'm not using the CH control Manager, but I can install that if CH has 64-bit drivers.

I wasn't advising you to use that -- I was thinking that it might have been the cause of the slow poll time. That you are not using it only increases the puzzle.

I was thinking that there is a permanent check, because the rudder pedals has disconnected after I have redone the axis assignment and calibration. All axis where fine and shortly after closing the FSUIPC-dialog the rudder was dead again.

Try installing the update available above, in the "Updates and other goodies" announcement.

I am re-thinking the way FSUIPC performs this checking now. I am planning to change it as follows:

1. Reset the "black mark" against a joystick each time the Axes or Buttons tabs are entered, or when the settings are Reloaded in either of those places. This gives everything a "fresh stab" at working properly, in case the previous failure was a fluke.

2. Only apply the currently set timeout (default kept at 20 mSecs) if the eventual return from the poll was an Error - i.e. not a correct response. This should quickly weed out the bad driver problems which were causing the hangs for which I added the facility in the first place.

3. For all other cases apply a timeout of 4 x the currently set timeout, with a minimum of 60.

I'll make these changes today. Look out for updates later.

Regards

Pete

[Holclo]

Pete

Just in case you missed my post above your last reply. We must have been typing at the same time.And to clarify the flickering when I press the button on the joystick I see the "S" for only a brief moment and then the box is empty again. Press button again and once more a momentary display of the "S"

Bill

[Pete Dowson]

Another observation I have made is a couple of times when going to FSUIPC via Menu and selecting buttons and switches I would get a flickering of the assignment i.e. when I press the button I had allocated to key press "S" I would see the "S" flickering and not stable in it's little box as would normally be the case. Other buttons would then act similarly.

...

Just in case you missed my post above your last reply. We must have been typing at the same time.And to clarify the flickering when I press the button on the joystick I see the "S" for only a brief moment and then the box is empty again. Press button again and once more a momentary display of the "S"

I assume that the joystick/Button number in their boxes top centre are also flickering or changing? The only way anything on that page changes is when another button press is seen. If that is occurring all of the time, without you touching anything, then certainly something in or attached to your system is doing it. If you cannot tell the joystick & button number from that display, enable Button logging and check the log -- show it to me if you aren't sure what you are looking at.

Regards

Pete

[Holclo]

Pete

Have just been checking. When I call up FSUIPC to Buttons and Switches the graphic box opens showing Joystick 2 Button 11. When I press a button on the joystick it momentarily shows Joystick 0 and button 10 the "S" flashes and then the Joystick number reverts to Joystick 2 button number 11. If I press a different button I will get for example Joystick 0 button 8 and again reverts after a quick flash to joystick 2 button 11 (and always no entries in any other boxes)

Bill

[Pete Dowson]

Pete

Have just been checking. When I call up FSUIPC to Buttons and Switches the graphic box opens showing Joystick 2 Button 11. When I press a button on the joystick it momentarily shows Joystick 0 and button 10 the "S" flashes and then the Joystick number reverts to Joystick 2 button number 11. If I press a different button I will get for example Joystick 0 button 8 and again reverts after a quick flash to joystick 2 button 11 (and always no entries in any other boxes)

Okay. So you have a device "joystick 2" which has a button (11) which is continually flickering on and off.

Look in your FSUIPC INI file, find the [JoyNames] section. That will tell you the name of Joystick 2. Unplug that device. check that the problem is no more.

There was a problem like this (only not so frequent) on early versions of the Saitek yoke, I believe. In fact I added a special facility to FSUIPC to help resolve it. The spurious button presses were very short -- shorter than a normal human press would be, so I eliminated them by ignoring short press times. See if it helps you. It is this, as described in the Advanced User's document:

EliminateTransients: This can be added, and set to ‘Yes’, to eliminate short (transient) button press indications. This is intended to help deal with some devices which create occasional spurious button press signals. It operates only with locally-connected joysticks (but not EPIC or GoFlight devices).

Regards

Pete

[Holclo]

Pete

OK it was the Leo Bodnar (Bux)card. One of switches causing problems. Have disconnected it. Set one hat switch button via FSUIPC and then have had another joystick disconnect. Have set the timeout to 100 but it will not connect.When I check through Control Panel - Devices - Properties the joystick responds as working fine so it must be the connection to fs that is causing the problems I assume. Will now reload MSFS and try again. Same thing happened again.

Just for interest I have tried this joystick on my "now test rig" Dell P4 running XP and FSUIPC3.93 and all is well. Joystick perfect.

Bill

[Pete Dowson]

... have had another joystick disconnect. Have set the timeout to 100 but it will not connect.

Really? After all I've changed in FSUIPC 3.962? I will certainly need more information. i see no way for that to occur now!

Pete

[Holclo]

Pete

Oops not up to .62 yet going there now.

Sorry

Bill

[Holclo]

Pete

3.962 seems to have cured the joystick recognition problem. Have been in amd out of FSUIPC about 10 times and no disconnect. Have now lost contact with my GoFlight modules but that is for tomorrow as I have to go out visiting now. Many thanks for helping me through this today. Much appreciated. Paolo is currently writing me a little programme to see if he can trace the blockage with the CPFlightMCP. Tis a very frustrating time.

Take Care,

Bill

[Holclo]

Pete

Good morning. Just reporting that all is working well here now including GoFlight. 3.962 has fixed all.Now just waiting for Paolo and CPFlight fix.

Thank you for your time and effort.

Bill

[Pete Dowson]

Pete

Good morning. Just reporting that all is working well here now including GoFlight. 3.962 has fixed all.

Good. Thanks for confirming.

Pete

[sfox72]

Try installing the update available above, in the "Updates and other goodies" announcement.

Hi Pete,

I have installed the update and cleaned the fsuipc.ini. Have not noticed any problems with the default, so in my point of view 3.962 seems to be fine on my system. If there are any problems i will notice you.

Thank you and best regards

Stefan

[Pete Dowson]

I have installed the update and cleaned the fsuipc.ini. Have not noticed any problems with the default, so in my point of view 3.962 seems to be fine on my system.

Good. Thanks for letting me know!

Regards

Pete